#Grand Astoria Hotel

[adlertours]

Dubai Package - Valid till Sep 2024

#DUBAI #THEPEARLOFTHEMIDDLEEAST 5 Nights / 6 Days  Valid till 30 Sep 2024 USD 383 Per Person on Twin / Double Sharing Basis Package includes: ~ 3* #GrandAstoriaHotel on Bed & Breakfast Basis. ~ Half-Day #DubaiCityTour. ~ #DesertSafari with Belly Dance & Dinner. ~ #DhowCruise with Dinner. ~ #BurjKhalifa Observation Deck Non-Prime (124th Floor) + Dubai Mall + Fountain Show. ~ Full-day…

[trendspostneel]

Embark on a magical sojourn in Orlando, where an array of distinguished hotels promises an enchanting stay. The Disney Springs Resort Area beckons with its immersive charm, offering a gateway to the wonders of the Disney universe. Experience the epitome of luxury at the Epcot Grand Suites, where lavish accommodations blend seamlessly with the allure of Epcot's attractions. Immerse yourself in the wild elegance of the Animal Kingdom Lodge, where each moment feels like a safari adventure.

For those seeking a blend of sophistication and whimsy, the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and Magic Kingdom Deluxe Resort & Spa stand as iconic beacons of opulence. The Wyndham Lake Buena Vista Resort and Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace offer contemporary comfort and convenience, providing the perfect base for your Orlando escapade.

Discover European-inspired elegance at the Four Seasons Resort, where impeccable service meets luxurious surroundings. Enjoy a cozy retreat at the Holiday Inn Orlando, where hospitality is at its finest. Indulge in the epitome of luxury at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando, where each detail is crafted for an unparalleled experience. Lastly, the Polynesian charm of Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort transports guests to a tropical paradise, creating an oasis in the heart of Florida.Whether you're surrounded by beloved Disney characters or experiencing the upscale allure of renowned resorts, each hotel in Orlando, from the grandeur of Disney's offerings to the contemporary comfort of Wyndham and Hilton, ensures that your stay is a magical chapter in the captivating tale of this vibrant city.

[citizenscreen]

The First Tony Awards for Excellence in Theatre, were held on April 6, 1947, in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.

[machetelanding]

Robin Williams, photographed by Martin Schoeller for The New Yorker in 2002.

"I was hired by The New Yorker in 2002 to photograph Robin Williams, and after doing my research what stood out most for me was that he was a very physical comedian. I came up with this idea to photograph him swinging from a chandelier in a grand hotel room. Most publicists shoot down these kinds of wild ideas, so I didn't tell anyone what I was up to, but rigged up a chandelier at the Waldorf Astoria hotel for him to swing from. When Robin got there and saw what was happening, he lifted up his shirt and showed me this enormous scar on his shoulder. He'd just had surgery and couldn't so much as lift his arm. He was so disappointed! He really felt bad about not being able to do it, because he loved the idea and really wanted to help me accomplish my vision. Unlike most Hollywood stars, he was unfazed by his success and position. He talked to everyone from stylists to the crew to the hotel staff. We ended up asking a maid at the hotel to swing from the chandelier instead, and I asked him to just sit there and read a newspaper, which I think in the end was an even funnier, more unexpected picture."

[moons-rising]

✨ ASTORIA

— Fond of luxuries, grand parties and fine drinks, she runs the clan's only hotel... an old building long rumored to be haunted.

[freehawaii]

HAWAIIAN ANCESTRAL BONES AT RISK ON MAUI

Hawaii News Now - April 5, 2023

Tensions surrounding the planned expansion of a luxury hotel on Maui are rising. The Grand Wailea, a Waldorf Astoria Resort, has been wanting to expand for years. But protectors of ancestral bones, or iwi kupuna, say enough already. “I feel I was really called to do this. Like I was tapped on the shoulder and said, ‘come and help,’” said Clare Apana, head of Malama Kakanilua. Apana, along with Hooponopono o Makena president Ashford Kaleolani DeLima, are committed to protecting iwi kupuna on Maui. DeLima’s ancestors are from South Maui, where the Grand Wailea is located. “You feel this wind? This wind is gentle. That’s because my kupuna knows that I’m here speaking about them and trying to tell the truth,” DeLima said. DeLima, Apana and others say the Grand Wailea was built on sacred burial grounds. They are against the resort’s plan for expansion and renovations. “This is one of the areas where you find concentrations of burials. You don’t find this on any other property. You may find burials … but you don’t find burials in the concentrations that are on this property,” Apana said. The Grand Wailea wants to add 137 guest rooms, enhance its landscaping, pool amenities and restaurant facilities and improve its infrastructure. Maui Planning Department recommended approving the project with conditions in 2019. But last month, a Maui Planning Commission’s appointed hearing officer recommended that the Grand Wailea’s permits be denied until they can make “adjustments in the areas of traditional and customary native Hawaiian practices, traffic and water.” The permits are needed to complete the expansion. The resort says the project scope was reduced by nearly 40% to reflect community feedback and avoid ground disturbance in areas of archaeological or cultural sensitivity. “The hearing officer’s report was a welcome confirmation of Grand Wailea’s enhancement plans and commitment to being a good steward,” said William Meheula, counsel for the resort. “We agree with almost all of the recommendations, including that the project’s archaeological inventory surveys and monitoring plans that were approved by the state met the legal requirements, and have submitted a response largely supporting the report and demonstrating the project has satisfied the necessary conditions to proceed if approved by the Maui Planning Commission.” The hotel says its commitment to giving back is reflected in the more than $5 million donated to nonprofits over the last seven years. The resort’s managing director added that the hotel employs more than 1,200 people, and that the expansion will create hundreds more jobs. Apana and DeLima said all they want is respect. “The right thing to do is malama the iwi,” DeLima said. “Show respect and not only make money....”

[justforbooks]

Iris Apfel was finally recognised as a great, original fashion stylist in her 80s, when the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum in New York had a sudden gap in its 2005 exhibition schedule. Many curators knew Apfel, who has died aged 102, as a collector stashing away clothes, especially costume jewellery, both couture-high and street-market-low, so the institute asked to borrow some of her thousands of pieces.

When Apfel wore them herself, dozens at a time in ensembles collaged fresh daily, they had zingy pzazz, so she was invited to set up the displays. There was no publicity budget, and her name was modestly known only in the interior decor trade, yet the show, Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Apfel Collection, became a huge success after visitors promoted it online. It toured other American museums, changing exhibits en route because Apfel wanted her stuff back so she could wear it.

Apfel’s grandfather had been a master tailor in Russia; her father, Samuel Barrel, supplied mirrors to smart decorators; her chic mother, Sadye (nee Asofsky), had a fashion shop. They lived out in rural Astoria, in the Queens borough of New York, where Iris was born.

As a child, her treat was a weekly subway trip to Manhattan to explore its shops, her favourites the junk emporia of Greenwich Village. She was short, plain and, until her teen years, plump, but she had style; and the owner of a Brooklyn department store picked her out of a crowd to tell her so. During the Depression all her family could sew, drape, glue, paint and otherwise create the look of a room, or a person, on a budget of cents – the best of educations.

She studied art history at New York University, then qualified to teach and did so briefly in Wisconsin before fleeing back to New York to work on Women’s Wear Daily. Furniture and fabrics were in short supply during and after the second world war, and Iris began to earn by sourcing antiques and textiles; if she could not find it, she could make or fake it cheaply.

In 1948 she married Carl Apfel, and they became a decorating team: he had the head for business and she the eye. Unable to find cloth appropriate to a period decor, Iris adapted a design from an old piece and had it woven in a friend’s family mill; she and Carl then set up Old World Weavers in 1952, commissioning traditional makers around the globe.

Photographs and home-movie footage from the next four decades showed Apfel, adorned with elan, haggling for one-off items in souks, flea markets and bric-a-brac shops. She is the most decorative sight in each shot, her ensembles put together with complex cadenzas atop an underlying, tailored, structure– they are like jazz – not a statement, but a conversation.

Apfel was the last of those 20th-century fashion exotics who presented themselves as installations. Although she wore a priest’s warm tunic to the White House (President Richard Nixon underheated the place), plus armfuls of cheap African bracelets and thigh-high boots, she was not an exhibitionist like the Marchesa Casati, and, with her vaudevillian comic timing, was far funnier than the imperious Vogue editor Diana Vreeland.

Also, she never ever bought full-price: her many rails and under-the-bed suitcases of couture were sale-price samples, chosen for their cut, fabric, skilled craftwork and colour dazzle (“Colour can raise the dead”). She might wear them over thrift shop pyjamas, or under a Peking Opera costume, with hawsers of necklaces atop. Money could not buy personal style, she said, prettiness withered, beauty could corrode the soul. All that really mattered was “attitude, attitude, attitude”.

Old World Weavers discreetly refurbished the White House under nine presidents, as well as grand hotels and private houses, before the Apfels sold the company in 1992. They retired to a quiet life in their apartment on Park Avenue, New York, its decor an extension of Apfel’s outfits (bad garment choices were cut up for cushions), and in a Palm Beach holiday home where the Christmas decoration collection stayed up all year round, along with cuddly toys and museum-class folk art. Clothes shopping, and the improvisation of an outfit, became Apfel’s daily ritual, as cooking might be to a gourmet.

But after the Met show, and a book, Rare Bird of Fashion (2007), Apfel was back in as much full-time employment as she could manage in her 80s and 90s (she had a hip replacement because she fell after stepping on an Oscar de la Renta gown). She was cover girl of Dazed and Confused, among many other publications, window display artist at Bergdorf Goodman, designer and design consultant – superb on eye-glasses; she wore large, owl-like, frames to stylise her aged face into a witty, unchanging, cartoon.

She took seriously her responsibilities to fashion students on her course at the University of Texas, teaching them about imagination, craft and tangible pleasures in a world of images.

Her career lasted – nothing was ever too late: in 2018, Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, a book of memoir and sound style advice; in 2019, a contract with the model agency IMG; and last year, a beauty campaign for makeup with Ciaté London. The documentarian Albert Maysles trailed her for Iris (2014), filming this “geriatric starlet” – her term – as she dealt drolly with new high-fashion friends, or laughed at an “Iris” Halloween costume (glasses, a ton of bangles).

She watched as a storage loft of her antique treasures was listed in lots for sale, and as white-gloved assistants from museums that had begged a bequest boxed up her garments; she still had, and wore, the shoes from her wedding. All things, she said, were only on loan in this world, even to collectors. The point was to enjoy them to the full before bidding them good-bye.

Carl died in 2015.

🔔 Iris Barrel Apfel, decorator and fashion stylist, born 29 August 1921; died 1 March 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

The New York Dolls, Waldorf Astoria, New York City, October 31, 1973

How are you celebrating Halloween this year? I'm taking a time machine 50 years back to see the New York Dolls in the Waldorf-Astoria's Grand Ballroom. Or, rather, I'm going to watch this raw video of this legendary occasion ... it's a blast, but I'm sure nothing could compare to actually being there.

Will Hermes set the scene in his Love Goes To Buildings On Fire: The Waldorf-Astoria was the epitome of uptown, up-tight, upper-crust New York; whoever agreed to give the ballroom over to the Dolls and their wasted fans was either clueless or wickedly subversive. By midnight, a thousand-some freaks of various stripes were packed into the ballroom entryway, pressing against doors that were supposed to have opened at 11:00. Tempers flared, doors were smashed, and someone lit a stink bomb in the hotel lobby in protest. Security guards admitted a portion of the mob but hundreds were turned away. Arthur Bell described the scene as "Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange and Joel Grey in Cabaret by the dozens, chains and hoods, silver buttocks, scarlet breasts, dildoed noses," with old-school trannies washing down demerol capsules with swigs of whiskey.

In other words ... Happy Halloween!

[royalteachitchat]

Unbelievable!

[m1autorepair]

📅 On this day in 1953, the iconic Chevrolet Corvette made its grand debut at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in NYC during GM's Motorama. Designed by Harley Earl, it was the first all-fiberglass-bodied sports car mass-produced in the U.S. The initial 300 Corvettes were hand-built in Flint, Michigan, sporting a polo white convertible body, red interior, and black top. 👌 A Blue Flame six-cylinder sat under the hood connected to a two-speed automatic transmission. Fast forward to 2024, and now we have an electric-hybrid Corvette, the E-Ray! ⚡️ Could this car usher in a new generation of Corvette history? #corvette #automotivehistory #chevy #chevrolet

[fridagentileschi]

L'Hotel Plaza di New York in una foto del 1910.

L'Hotel si trova a Manhattan, nella Fifth Avenue, la via dello shopping newyorkese, la zona sud di central park, cuore verde della grande mela..fu progettato nel 1907 e deve misurarsi con la fama dei due maggiori alberghi di lusso del tempo: l'Ansonia e il Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Il Plaza fu immortalato negli anni Venti dallo scrittore Francis Scott Fitzgerald, che lo impiegò nelle sue pagine come frequente ambientazione, e fu dimora di reali, miliardari e celebrità le più varie.

Anche il cinema onorò l'Hotel rappresentandolo in moltissime pellicole, tra cui "Intrigo internazionale" di Alfred Hitchcock del 1959, poi "A piedi nudi nel parco" (1967), "Appartamento al Plaza" (1971) e in anni più recenti "Il Grande Gatsby" (2013).

Per chi volesse pernottare una notte nel famoso hotel i prezzi si aggirano intorno ai 350 euro nella bassa stagione...possono arrivare anche intorno ai mille euro a notte e anche piu'...

[dertaglichedan]

EXCLUSIVE: FEMA officials are staying at $1,000-a-night luxury hotels in Maui amid recovery efforts in Lahaina

FEMA officials have been slammed by Maui locals for their slow response to the devastating wildfires that ripped through Lahaina earlier this month 

But DailyMail.com can reveal they are staying at three five-star hotels, Fairmont Kea Lani, Four Seasons, and the Grand Wailea Astoria, during recovery efforts 

Federal government rates for this week at all three resorts start at an eye-watering $1,000, company sources revealed 

Bungling U.S. government bureaucrats dispatched to the Maui disaster zone are shacked up in $1,000-a-night luxury hotels on the Hawaiian island, DailyMail.com can reveal.

Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have been slammed by locals over their slow response to the devastating wildfires that have claimed at least 114 lives and left thousands of people homeless after their houses were scorched to the ground.

But that has not stopped the under-fire agency from splashing taxpayer cash to put up more than 1,000 of its personnel at four bank-breaking resorts in Wailea after the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. for more than a century that caused an estimated $5billion in damage.

The beachside resorts are popular among the rich and famous and located about a 45-minute drive away from the fire-ravaged town of Lahaina.

[dadukos]

❛ this your idea of laying low? ❜ (lovingly. also bitchily. but mostly lovingly.) — @softersinned. re : crime starters , accepting.

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 ? she seems to have lost track of her grand tour — could be london, with the shade of grey peering from the windows. could be anywhere at all in the world, really, wouldn’t much make a difference. what makes a difference is astoria’s presence, bright as ever like the sun itself sent an emissary to check on her — she stands in the doorway and the immediate instinct is to say GOD NO, not when i’m like this. ❝ can you … please, be quieter ? ❞ fred’s features contorting in a grimace of pain, everything aching — she’s getting too old for hangovers, and this is precisely what she fears astoria will point out. with that loving, sharp eye of hers: just as caring as it is ruthless. rubbing her temples, fred steps aside to let her in: her hotel room draped in chaos, though she’s pretty sure her demise happened somewhere out of here, last night. astoriawas there too, she thinks — in some sort of rock disco club where fred ended up ditching her friend for a dave gahan wannabe that proved to be not nearly as exciting as his idol. maybe it’s fair that she should get to judge her. 

what was it she’d said, back in the states ? gonna take a trip, lie low for a while, find myself ? one could argue she did, in fact, find herself — a supernova grade of a fuckup and all the chaos that follows. ❝ go on, let it out ❞, fred sighs, turning to the minibar to grab a diet coke and press it hard against her forehead. when she sits back down on the bed her shoulders are low, her eyes pleading — some sort of child accepting the inevitable lecture. not that it’s particularly in astoria’s cords to point fingers, but a part of fred would welcome it. a dose of tough love as a remedy to cure hangovers. this performance, however — not as praise worthy as her usual ones. fred sighs, lets herself fall down on the bed, and groans. ❝ i’m glad you’re here ❞, she says. ❝ but i’d be so grateful if you could avoid telling me exactly how ridiculous i got last night. ❞

[ipanemaisnotinlove]

"Desfallezco de ternura" (Pizarnik)

Vivir una vida con A, pensar y alojar esa vida en el centro del corazón que es también el centro del poema. Habitarnos en el cotidiano, superponernos, existir juntos. Ese ser familia en un país que no es el nuestro. Cómo describir y cómo escribir sobre los días juntos: una vida tranquila y feliz, una vida de cuidado, de amor y de divertimento. Venir de Punta Cana con las emociones fuera de control, estar triste con los rechazos laborales, la incertidumbre, las no respuestas. Quiero una vida grande, una vida tranquila. El bondi, los colores de una cocina, el proyecto armar casa, regalitos de Navidad, la terquedad y el cariño, Airpods, cenas felices, Cocombro, sobre todo Cocombro, el huevito de Cocombro, Tim, Stomach Upset, Walgreens, el cartucho II, peluches en Walgreens, la vergüenza, Pedialyte, el cuidado, selfies, Ikea, los virus de los niños de Ikea, un café y un té en un hotel, la lluvia, siestas, Norovirus, delirio y amor, Te amo, parálisis, T-e-a-m-o, bondi, NY, Sunnyside, Cocombro en Sunnyside, la logística, New Years Eve, ponernos lindos, Mesa 19B, bailar mucho, alcohol, fotos, 12 Uvas, deseos, 1 de enero, empezar el año así, mis peluches con Cocombro, Nemo, Cena con Eli, Eze y Caro, la importancia de la amistad, empanadas, paseo Astoria, Long Island City, Terraza, Noguchi (ese lugar nuestro), Home Depot, Uniqlo, tiles, más tiles, Antidote, celebrarlo, defensas bajas, mi cumple, soplar las velitas, Bath House, el agua, el calor, COQODAQ, New Haven, él, mi amor, el más lindo, foodtruck, una semana de un curso, almorzar juntos, mini citas caseras, comer mani, te amo, yo también te amo, Frank Pepe Pizzeria, el mal del pizza paladar, un llanto encendido en la madrugada, "dame un mes", dijo, sacar el dolor profundo, la ilusión de que el amor se defina, se enmarque, se concrete, una autoestima minada, la Luna llena en Cáncer, Bob el constructor, The Morning Show, Our Little Secret, Autobuses, la vida en los suburbios, comida India, vino, Partners, comida italiana, besos en la nieve. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Dijo Louise Glück en un mensaje a una de sus estudiantes: Writing is painful as a life. I feel that even after decades. Doesn't get easier, which surprised me. The yearning and failing parts don't get easier. And then there are the miraculous times when fluency is effortless. Or even the times of just being absorbed deeply. Can't think of anything better. I regret being unable to occupy that state constantly but to be there at all seems a marvel beyond all others. Escribir y convocar y que la escritura de frutos. La incertidumbre de una vida que se está terminando. El fin de una era. La ansiedad de mayo. El fin. Una mujer en el consultorio de su analista. ¿Qué se espera del análisis?

[trendtoday]

Belgium's grandest hotel is back

What is noise? A hotel of this scale has not opened in Brussels for over a century. Built by order of the then king to attract and accommodate visitors to the 1910 Brussels International Exhibition, the former Grand Hotel Astoria reopened just before Christmas after a 17-year closure, resuming its position as the grandest hotel in Belgium. It was bought in 2016 by the Malta-based Corinthia Group,…

[trendstodaynet]

Belgium's grandest hotel is back

What is noise? A hotel of this scale has not opened in Brussels for over a century. Built by order of the then king to attract and accommodate visitors to the 1910 Brussels International Exhibition, the former Grand Hotel Astoria reopened just before Christmas after a 17-year closure, resuming its position as the grandest hotel in Belgium. It was bought in 2016 by the Malta-based Corinthia Group,…